HV advice on waking at 5 and dropping bottles - do I follow it?

[bluesmile10]

Health visitor visited yesterday to weight 1 yo ds and we discussed him waking at 5 am (sometimes stirs around 4!!) Her advice was to leave him in his cot for as long as possbile, give him his bottle in his cot and leave him in his room for as long as we can, as he is waking to be brought downstairs to play. She also said not to let him nap before 10 am and to be awake by 4 pm (gradually moving this to 3). He also hasnt dropped any feeds yet, and having been on anti biotics for a while and suffering from poorly ear, milk intake has gone up rather than down. She said to give him all milk in an open topped cup (even bedtime bottle), and start to water feeds down (so less formula than water) - hopefully this will then encourage him to eat more solids as he doesnt eat much, just relies on milk!!!

I'm thinking that if I'm watering feeds down, why do they need to be in a cup, because wont he eventually not have them - she said its just a comfort thing!

Also wont his 5 am wake up just naturally change? Or is it him trying to call the shots, my friend suggested putting a stair gate across his room and just letting him play in there until a reasonable time. What should I do?

Do YOU have an issue with the time he wakes or with hiw much milk he is drinking?

Also if he's 1, he can have normal cow's milk - watering that down would taste horrid!

Am worried that milk intake has gone up since end of March and not down and yes 5 am is causing bit of head ache with mine and dh relationship as I go to bed early to compensate and we have no time together!!

If you're happy to try any part of what she's suggested, you have nothing to lose. You don't need to do all of her suggestions, and there's a chance they might not do anything at all! If he's been poorly though, I'd keep offering the milk when he wants it.

From my own experience, hat I found with DD (14mo) is that her milk feeds dropped very suddenly - she went from 5 bottles a day to just 1 in the space of about a week and that happened when we sorted her sleep out.

Thats interesting Flisspaps, do you mind if I ask how you sorted your dd's sleep out?

Just read your other post on this.

We used to go to DD when she woke without fail, and if she cried we'd get her out and cuddle her, and eventually it made no difference, she cried for two hours one night while I held her. I gave up, stuck her in the cot and within 30 minutes she was asleep. Slept for hours.

We tried controlled crying but that didn't help as she got hysterical when we left the room each time. So we tried leaving her to cry at bedtime/naptime- by far the absolute hardest thing we have EVER done - and shush/pat if she woke in the night (any time before 6am in this house is night)

Within days she was going to sleep in her cot alone very quickly, sleeping all night (with one or two nights where she's woken up briefly and gone back to sleep by herself after a whinge) and waking at 6.30am and playing in her cot until about 7am. She greets me every morning with a huge smile so she doesn't appear to bear a grudge for me abandoning her (that's how it felt those first few nights!)

Before that she was waking every night at 10pm, 3am (sometimes for 90 minutes) and having milk at each waking.

It depends how desperate you are though. I would not recommend CIO unless you are absolutely desperate because it's hard for everyone, but after the nightmare of the first couple of nights, all three of us are happier :) It's about what works for you.

Have your tried giving him water when he wakes that early, so he doesn't get the idea that 5am is breakfast time? He is more than old enough to not have milk at 5am.

We certainly went through a phase of just chucking a bottle at the babies at 5. It worked if the problem was hunger, didn't work if they just weren't sleepy.

At 1 my boys were not eating much and I think I remember a sudden increase in milk intake soon after we switched to cows milk which did settle down as they started eating better. Did she really mean an open cup (just starting that with my 2 year olds)? We tried to introduce a sippy cup for milk at 1, took till well over 18 months for that to be accepted (though my boys are quite small so I didn't want to risk them not taking much milk which was a significant part of their diet then).

I'd happily leave him to play till whatever time works for you if he'll go for it. And even if he insists on getting up don't be at all entertaining till around 7. I had to ban DH from getting up with them at 5 as he'd start swinging them around and I'd charge in accusing him of making them happy when they should really still be in bed. Instead they got me half asleep on the sofa.

I think the nap times are a good idea - but that is because I know that worked for us. You may feel it would be unreasonable for you and your ds.

Thanks rattling, yes she did mean an open cup!!!

Think we are going to try the nap time thing, but I know leaving him to play will be a no no in the morning, once he's awake he wants to be up and about!! So not sure about that one at mo, wouldn't mind if it was about 6 - 5 is just sooo early!!!!! Suppose I'm jsut hoping that the sleep pattern will just naturally improve. Is that wishful thinking??

Have you considered 'wake to sleep'? It worked really well for us as I seriously do not function before 6.30 for anyone! I think its a baby whisperer method but thats the only part of that book I've ever implemented as it was recommended to me by a friend. As long as he's definitely not waking for any reason other than habit it should work. It should only take 3 nights but its well worth it IME! My DS never wakes before 6.30 and often as late as 8.00 if we'd let him!

I can sort of see the hv point but don't water formula down, just get into a routine with when he can have milk and stick to it. At a yr I think for my dd it was roughly 4 bottles a day, morning, 10am ish, 2pm ish and bedtime.

Obviously a balenced diet bfast, lunch and tea and offer snacks mid morning and mid afternoon.

With 5am waking personally I would treat it as if he had woken up at 2am!!! That is go in, comfort, check nappy, keep interaction to a minimum, if really kicking off then drink of water (milk only as a last resort), once you know he is fine leave him to go back to sleep, if continues to cry repeat every 15mins until he gives in to sleep!!! I only did this a few times with my dd and she started to wake at 7.30am - much more reasonable

With moving from bottle to cup I would do it gradually, keep morning and evening bottles and try cup during the day but don't worry he is still very little.